Chancellor agrees to extension with Seahawks

Considered the No. 1 priority this offseason according to Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider, the team announced during a press conference Monday afternoon that strong safety Kam Chancellor had signed a four-year contract extension.

Chancellor still had a year remaining at $1.3 million on his rookie contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s believed the 25-year-old added another four years on that deal at $28 million, which includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

“Anything that happened other than being able to sign Kam was going to (be) a bonus for us,” Schneider said. “It was our absolute No. 1 priority. We talked about it for a long time.”

Chancellor is the latest player the Seahawks have shown a commitment to bringing back, joining Marshawn Lynch, Max Unger, Chris Clemons, Brandon Mebane, Red Bryant and Michael Robinson as core players re-signed during the Pete Carroll and Schneider era.

Further, Chancellor, selected in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, is the first draft pick of the Carroll and Schneider era signed to an extension.

“He’s been nothing but a positive influence on our program since the day he got here,” the Seattle head coach said. “It took him a year to get ready to play on a full-time basis, but he made a big impact in his rookie season, as well as special teams when he had his opportunities.

“He is a leader. He’s a great football player. He’s a physical football player that plays in the vain that we want to play. He stands for toughness and being physical, and we love every bit about that.”

In his first year as a starter in 2011, the Virginia Tech product earned an invitation to the Pro Bowl by finishing second on the team in tackles (94) and interceptions (4).

At 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, Chancellor is active in stopping the run, and an enforcer in the back end of the defense because of the hard licks he puts on receivers.

He finished third on the team in tackles with 91 in 2012, and no interceptions. But Chancellor was hobbled last season, as he needed surgeries on both ankles after the season was over to remove bone spurs.

“They kind of nagged me a little bit during the season,” he said. “But you’ll never play at 100 percent. ... Right now I’m back running, moving, cutting and doing drills. So the process is going well right now, and I’m looking forward to playing.”

Chancellor played mostly special teams and came in when Seattle went with six defensive backs his first year in the league, playing behind veteran safety and Tacoma native Lawyer Milloy in 2010.

He credited Milloy with showing him how to be a successful safety in the NFL.

“It helped me out a lot,” Chancellor said. “Like every rookie that comes in and thinks they can play his first year, I thought I could play my first year.

“Just the way he approached the game, he was a fierce competitor. Every time we stepped on that field he wanted to take somebody’s head off. He was always amped up. He gets you going, even though I didn’t play on defense, on special teams he got me going. So having a year behind him and just seeing a guy like that of that stature, I think it helped out a lot as a player.”

With Chancellor signed, Schneider can turn his attention to locking up the rest of the most talented secondary in the league.

Safety Earl Thomas still has two years left on his rookie contract. Because cornerback Richard Sherman was drafted under the rules of the new collective bargaining agreement, the Seahawks can’t begin negotiating a new deal with him until after the end of the 2013 season. Brandon Browner is set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the upcoming season.

“It’s extremely important and we’d like to keep everybody together,” Schneider said. “All these negotiations take two sides to get these things figured out. These guys are a strong part of what we’re doing.”